. Notwithstanding the uncertain light, we made
short work of this herd.

Again I pitched the tent and prepared supper, while my brown friends
paid their final respects to the musk-oxen on the bluff. It is necessary
to eviscerate these animals as soon as they are killed, otherwise the
excessive heat of the great shaggy bodies will cause the meat to become
tainted. When the three Eskimos came down to the tent the darkness was
already upon us--a promise of the long black night to come.

The next day we completed the circuit of the western shore of the Inlet,
then started on a bee line for Sail Harbor, making this a forced march.
At Sail Harbor we found a note from Bartlett, showing that he had passed
there the previous day on his way back from Cape Columbia to the ship.

There we camped again; and in the morning, while the men were breaking
camp and lashing up the sledges, I started with the very first rays of
the morning light across the peninsula towards James Ross Bay. As I
crested the divide, I saw--down on the shore of the Bay--a group of dark
spots which were clearly recognized as a camp; and a little later I sang
out to the party, which comprised the divisions of Bartlett, Goodsell,
and Borup.

By the time the sleepy-eyed, stiff figures of the three men--who, as I
soon learned, had been asleep only an hour or so--emerged from the
tents, my sledges and Eskimos were close at my heels. I can see now the
bulging eyes of the men, and particularly of young Borup, when they saw
the sledge loads of shaggy skins. On the top of the leading sledge was
the magnificent snowy pelt of the polar bear, with the head forward;
behind this was the deerskin with its wide-antlered head, and more
musk-ox heads than they had had time to count.

"Oh, gee!" exclaimed Borup, when his open-mouthed astonishment would
permit of articulation.

I had no time for visiting, as I wanted to reach the ship on that march;
and after a few words left the men to finish their interrupted sleep. It
was long after dark when we reached the _Roosevelt_. We had been absent
seven sleeps, had traveled over two hundred miles, had accomplished the
exploration of Clements Markham Inlet, had made a rough map of it, and
incidentally had obtained magnificent specimens of the three great
animals of the arctic regions, thus adding a few thousand pounds of
fresh meat to our winter supply. So, with a feeling of entire
satisfaction, I had a hot bath in my cabin bathroo